Paying a pension is like donating your money to a stranger

always keep an eye on the left to, theyre almost equally as bad, no guarantees with long term investments no matter whos in government, markets have a tendency to fcuk up from time to time, and the magic money tends to disappear during such fcuk ups!

....and markets are becoming more and more uncertain, we truly are living in an age of high uncertainty, but i still agree with auto opt-in, hopefully it means it helps overall incomes to rise also

Trying being self employed OP.

No-one to contribute to a pension scheme bar yourself.

That tends to focus the mind.

Maybe all PAYE employees and public servants should be required to do likewise, take responsibility for their own pensions.

I kinda agree with you but maybe not entirely,When you hear the Bank of England stepping in to stop Pension funds collapsing makes you fearful for having huge sums sitting in funds for years on end ,especially with the likes of Maxwell etc around.I and the company I work for have been paying 5% into fund for what will be 15 years when I retire and recently got a benefit statement saying my pension in 2024 after all those years will 1500 PA.I agree with you about focusing elsewhere,when young but build up rainy day fund if there are mortgages or kids around.The major issue for most thinking about retiring is will they inherit anything and the uncertainty around that means its a very inexact science .Most will say I never count on an inheritance but the majority get one so it is part of retirement planning.

Most pension plans will have an "autopilot" plan where they handle the investments for you. Up to around age 45 they'll focus on high risk funds which hopefully give good returns but are susceptible to market downturns

After that they start moving your money to lower risk products like government bonds and cash funds. So theoretically you should be somewhat insulated from market downturns towards retirement

Pensions are a pyramid scheme of sorts - it all relies on the ever growing economy. GDP keeps going up, population keeps going up, stocks keep going up.

European population would be declining if not for immigration, and even with immigration it grows by less than 1% annually, with that rate trending downwards.

We may well see an end to the era of infinite growth, and those people yet to draw down their pensions will be left holding the bag when it happens.

You can't be unemployed if you're self employed. Some days you earn, others you don't.

But it would make great sense to make every worker responsible for their own additional pension apart from the state pension. Power back to the people.

I did a bit in my twenties but took the view what I didn't have I wouldn't miss, got my mortgage at 22 which is now saving me having to pay out 1500 per month in rent, made sure to put a little away in a pension as I had money at the end of each week which I didn't need, continued to pay into a pension when I could afford more as I pay enough tax and like the idea of reducing it with saving me or my family will get the benefit of in the future, they might even consider looking after me at home considering they will inherit whatever I have left when I leave this world. Each to their own!

Is the issue not the proliferation of the lie that these retirement investments are sufficient for living off for most people? In the US context, from what I understand 401Ks and their ilk were created to encourage people to get into the stock market, not as actual replacements for guaranteed pensions.

Another step in the process to induce a sense of permanent insecurity in society. Keep people vulnerable, easy to exploit and control from businesses perspective.

No not really. I am taking the profit from the bear market and putting pension into low risk profile for a few months. It was fairly obvious that stocks had peaked. Even if I put equity back into the pension profile tomorrow and it continues to go down, I will still have a lot more units than I did a few months ago because I am going back in cheaper. The fund managers are forced to keep a certain equity % in the fund even when the whole market is sliding. That why people need to be smart. I don't do it that often.

I am not timing the markets. I reduced the % of equity in my main private pension fund. I reduced the risk profile. If you analyse the fund you can see the companies they have invested the fund. I analysed them all and decided they had peaked in general terms. So far so good. I nearly did the same when Covid hit but the initial drop was too fast and the recovery was also fairly quick. You should always know the makeup of your fund. You can even see the individual properties if you have a property segment in your fund.

Everyone does this as they approach retirement - the fund managers change your profile so it's less equity and more stable low risk investments (bonds, cash). The stepdown from risky elements is determined by age. I just decided to do it earlier than planned. I could revert to the old % of equity tomorrow and buy a lot more units than I had. Americans are a lot more active with their investments including pensions but the Irish seem to be completely hands off.

No. I will eventually increase the equity % and possibly reduce the property % in a few months. Things are too unstable at the moment though. Or maybe take the 'profit' and go back into the exact same fund breakdown and let it off. Not sure. I dont even know how often I can change the breakdown. I am still 15 years off retirement so I can afford a certain level of risk still. I think most funds allow a certain number of profile changes.

Yeah fair enough and maybe I won't go back into equity or I find funds with equities I would consider 'blue chip' (if that exists anymore). I saw that my fund had a lot of Nasdaq tech stocks and that made me very nervous. The Nasdaq has taken a hammering since. I should have moved into green funds a few years ago but I missed the boat.